Niaz Shazad says Transport Secretary will be remembered as ‘minister who did nothing’ if he does not take action
The son of a woman who was killed on a smart motorway has written to Grant Shapps to demand that he reinstate hard shoulders or be held personally responsible for all future deaths of motorists stranded in live lanes.
Niaz Shazad launched a withering attack on the Transport Secretary, claiming he will be remembered as a “failure” and the “minister who did nothing” if he refuses to halt the rollout of the roads.
Mr Shazad, a chartered accountant who has analysed road crash statistics, claims the Government’s insistence that smart motorways are “as safe as or safer than” traditional ones is based on “mathematical sophism” and “Orwellian doublespeak”.
His mother Nargis, 62, was killed when the car her husband was driving broke down on the inside lane of the M1 in South Yorkshire in 2018.
The mother of five was believed to have been attempting to get over the safety barrier when she was hit by her Nissan Qashqai after it was struck by a lorry. Despite the vehicle being stranded for 16 minutes and 21 seconds before the collision, Highways England failed to spot it to close the lane to traffic. The lorry driver was not prosecuted.
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